Bluegrass Roundup April 2020

Well,
I have to say I didn’t see this coming. Probably most of us didn’t.
I had all kinds of exciting bluegrass shows coming to Buffalo in
April 2020. Well, not any more. So what do we do? What am I doing?

I’ve
been staying in the house spring cleaning. Went through a bunch of
CD’s I’ve been meaning to get through. Listen to them, keep some,
recycle some. Clean my music room, my banjo and other instruments
that have needed it for years. So, what else?

Doug doing his online fireside concerts

One
thing I’ve been enjoying through this time of isolation are the
nightly live concerts that people are putting up on Facebook. I’ve
watched Dave Ruch and Phil Banaszak doing great renditions of old
songs and new on guitar, banjo, fiddle and mandolin. I’ve watched
John McEuen from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band singing, playing, showing
old photos from the road and telling stories about the 50 years he
spent with them breaking ground with the Will The Circle Be Unbroken
recordings and being the first American band to tour the USSR in
1977. Doug Yeomans offered us a live solo concert by his fireplace
from his home in Orchard Park. Almost Seamus went live on St.
Patrick’s Day night to benefit Buffalo musicians through “Band
Together Buffalo”. I’m still recovering from that one. On Sunday,
March 23rd, Tyler Grant from Colorado offered us all to jam along on
bluegrass standards with him from 8 PM till 11 PM ET. At the same
time, Garth Brooks was live online on Facebook taking requests. These
are the ones that I caught but there are many more coming up every
night.

Scott Panfil, Katie and Jay Clark online Irish concert

These
live shows are great on many levels. The music is great. Everyone
from Garth Brooks to our local musicians are on the same playing
stage, so to speak. An acoustic guitar maybe a banjo, a voice, a song
and maybe some harmony from a spouse. You get a front row seat. Your
seat is as good as anyone in the audience. Put on your head phones
and the sound is probably as good or better. You get to interact with
the performer and others in the audience. Many of the performers take
requests and will give a shout out to someone or a comment that
stands out. I felt like I was in middle or high school, passing notes
in the back of the class to my class mates. Laughing at comments made
on screen or in private messages to friends watching in real time
with me. Last but maybe most importantly, some of the local and
regional performers are out of work like so many others in the
country and world wide. They offer up a virtual “tip jar” in the
form of a paypal or venmo contribution. This money goes right to the
performer or to a good cause as in the case of the Almost Seamus live
show.

Tyler Grant online concerts and open bluegrass jam sessions.

These
shows are going on every day and night on Facebook. Check the
Facebook page BuffaloBluegrass.com to see what’s on tonight.

If
you’re not on Facebook but like finding your music on YouTube or
Spotify, here are some suggestions for bluegrass music you might
really enjoy.

As
in any kind of music, there are the “gateway” songs, artists and
recordings. In the blues, people tell me Stevie Ray Vaughn or B.B.
King or The Blues Brothers! In bluegrass how about these “gateway”
suggestions. If you like the Grateful Dead, check out the Old and In
the Way recordings with Jerry Garcia on banjo, start with the song
“Wild Horses”, a Stone’s cover. If you like Chris Stapleton’s
music, check out anything by the Steeldrivers like the song “Heaven
Sent” . If you like the jazz that Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
have been playing, why not listen to the New Grass Revival with him
and Sam Bush perhaps the song “Hold To a Dream”. The movie, “O
Brother, Where Art Thou?” and the sound track are both worth
revisiting too.

On
Youtube, where many of us are spending hours from video to video,
watch two of the hottest young artists, Molly Tuttle or Sierra Hull.
If you like to chuckle as you hear great playing, check out the
Cleverlys.

Your
local artists have CD’s for sale too. Go to their websites or
Facebook page and ask for a disc or a download. Pay them on paypal or
send a check. Rumor has it that the Panfil Brothers have a new one
available by request.

To
the many friends that have been attending our live shows for the past
40 plus years, Stay in, tune in, stay safe and we’ll see again when
this is over. In the mean time, I hope to see you at a live bluegrass
show online.